Foster Care Training

Privacy of system involved children, youth, and families is held to many local, state, and federal expectations. For youth in care, their privacy rights are protected via the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Other service-specific privacy practices including confidentiality, and mandated reporting requirements may apply, and have the potential to impact engagement and partnership with foster youth. This training will provide a comprehensive overview of HIPAA, protected health information (PHI), confidentiality, and mandated reporting requirements for service providers, and delve into a discussion of how these privacy practices are relevant to youth in foster care. Due to the ever changing nature of how we communicate with children, families, and other providers, this training will include discussion of safety in electronic communications and how to consider mandated reporting will cover child and elder abuse reporting practices in the context of safety of the foster youth.